Rockford one of 7 new cities in Obama's Strong Cities, Strong Communities program

Thursday

Jan 16, 2014 at 12:30 PMJan 16, 2014 at 7:47 PM

By Isaac GuerreroROCKFORD REGISTER STAR

ROCKFORD - The Obama administration has selected Rockford to participate in a federal program to help the city prevent crime and move people out of poverty and into jobs.

Rockford was among seven economically distressed cities selected Thursday for the second round of Strong Cities, Strong Communities. The program will bring a team of full-time, part-time and advisory federal personnel to town to help the city cut through red tape among federal agencies and make more efficient use of the city's existing federal aid.

The city, along with partners such as the Workforce Investment Board, Rockford Housing Authority and others, receive millions of federal dollars every year to address housing, transportation, education, job training and other initiatives.

But when local agencies try to pool those dollars for a specific project, it's not always easy, said RHA Director Ron Clewer. Waivers may be required. Paperwork must be submitted. Federal approval can take months.

"The intent of this program is to remove the struggle of bureaucracy," Clewer said. "This allows cities to align a panel of decision makers at the federal level with a panel of decision makers at the local level. Rather than spend months on legal and committee reviews, we can bring a program proposal right to the table of federal agencies and quickly identify what regulations or barriers will be an issue and how to move forward."

Rockford has the highest jobless rate of the seven cities selected for the program Thursday: St. Louis; Brownsville, Texas; Flint, Mich.; Gary, Ind.; Macon, Ga.; and Rocky Mount, N.C.

It's not yet clear what federally funded programs or initiatives Rockford will aim to expedite. The federal team that will come here will help the city develop a "cradle-to-career workforce development strategy" and identify opportunities for economic growth and strategies to address crime prevention, according to a news release from U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

Mayor Larry Morrissey has expressed frustration over federal rules that prevent Rockford from easily turning over operation of its Head Start early education program to the Rockford School District or another agency as part of a revamp of the city's Human Services Department. And RHA has a pending application for $28 million of federal assistance to redevelop Fairgrounds Valley housing project, an endeavor that will require multiple public and private partnerships at the local and federal level.

The Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative "allows us to be able to have a very straightforward conversation across many elements of the federal bureaucracy and say 'here's what we want to achieve, help us get there,'" Morrissey said.

Simply participating in the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative may demonstrate that Rockford is able to collaborate with other public and private partners to stretch federal aid that comes here. That could help the city attract more federal aid in the future, Clewer said.

The Strong Cities, Strong Communities program launched 2011 in seven other communities, including Detroit, where a team of federal personnel helped public and private sector leaders lay the groundwork for a light rail system. In New Orleans, the Strong City, Strong Communities program accelerated a $52 million homebuyer assistance and neighborhood redevelopment initiative, which has helped more than 220 first-time homebuyers purchase houses.

Rockford was among 92 communities across the nation invited to apply for the program. Last fall a federal team visited the city and met with an array of local government officials, philanthropic, groups, community activists and businessmen.

"The site visit gave us a chance to demonstrate our extensive efforts at cross-sector collaboration," Morrissey said. "It was especially timely that we could feature the efforts of Transform Rockford, which demonstrated the extensive commitment of our private sector to the White House (Strong Cities, Strong Communities) team."